Monday, January 31, 2011

From now on, I don't want to hear ANY Republican or independent tell me the bull feces that there's no difference between the two parties..

When you're part of a marginalized community, which party control the government at the local, state and federal level when one party pushes civil rights and the other is hell bent on rolling them back is of ginormous importance.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (D) issued an executive order in 2007 that banned discrimination in state employment for TBLG people. The order declared that no state employee could be fired from
or denied a state job on the basis of sexual orientation or gender
identity.

Fast forward to 2010 and GOP control of the Ohio state government. Governor John Kasich (R) let that executive order expire despite a campaign promise to the contrary. But after getting major flack over it issued a revised executive order that left out guess who?

The list of protected groups in the revised anti-discrimination order is a
bit lengthy, protecting state employees or job candidates from
discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, national origin,
military status, disability, age, genetic information or sexual
orientation.

Gender identity, which was in the Strickland executive order, is missing from the Kasich one.

“The governor is opposed to discrimination in state employment and
has made that clear in this executive order in the way that he feels is
most appropriate,” said spokesman Scott Milburn in a statement to
reporters.

Umm hmm. Yep, screw the transpeeps..

So for all you Ohio transpeople who voted GOP or didn't vote at all on November 2, elections have consequences. It's also past time for you to realize that the Republican Party, when it comes to civil rights issues, is not your friend.

Kids, when your mother tells you the classic line "I brought you into this world and I can take you out", believe it.

I'd also advise you to cease and desist with whatever behavior of yours is pissing her off.

16 year old Calyx Schenecker and her 13 year old brother Beau were shot and killed by their mother Julie Powers Schenecker in Tampa, FL for 'mouthing off' to her.

Police reportedly stated that Schenecker said her son Beau had been talking back to her while on the way to his soccer practice when she shot him twice with a .38 in the family SUV. She then returned home and shot Calyx twice while she sat in front of her computer doing homework.

The Army wife had written a note in which Schenecker said she was
going to kill her "disrespectful children," then kill herself, writing,"
"they talked back and were mouthy and that she was going to take care
of it."

I don’t want anyone to think that I hate trans women because I do
not. I am a trans woman, who doesn’t care if a trans girl is pre or post
op. I have something in common with her. We all could find ourselves on
the receiving end of discrimination.

Violence could be perpetrated against us.

We all are ridiculed. Mocked. There are men who have sex with us, but behind our backs make fun of us to other people.

So we trans women are in this together.

But
I find it infinitely easier to deal with mainstream society and natal
women and men than SOME trans people. It is easier for me, a trans
woman, to be in mainstream society with a reputation as a trans woman
than it is being a trans woman in the trans community.

To put it
bluntly, some t-girls are hard to deal with. Unless you’re in the same
boat she’s in, she is not your ally.

In
the straight community, I can put on a dab of makeup, a casual outfit
and my earrings and I’m told that I look nice and I receive compliments. Great! Most people are truly warm and receptive to me.

But
when I’m around some transsexuals, I can feel the shade. They feel that
I should have on more makeup. One time, Miss Ava Loren, who fancied
herself an expert makeup artist, painted me.

She applied
heavy foundation and eyeliner and gobs of green eye shadow. She put on
lip liner, followed by lipstick and then lip gloss. “Girl, you look
fierce,” she exclaimed, looking at me, admiring her handiwork, I
suppose.

I took a look at myself in the mirror and I was horrified.

With
all that damn gloss, my mouth was so greasy looking, it appeared as if I
ate a 10 piece bucket of KFC and neglected to wipe my mouth.

Ava
and I had planned to hit the mall and I was not venturing outside with
all that shit smeared on my face. “This isn’t me. I’m going to wash this
off,” I told her. Her expression indicated that she didn‘t like hearing
that.

“That’s my objective,“ I said, resisting the urge
to cuss Ava out for having a smelly attitude. I didn't want to parade
around in all that ridiculous looking makeup. She acted like I stole her
hormones.

And my 6’1 stature is
an issue with trans girls who are shorter. I love being tall. Sometimes,
it is a challenge finding clothes that are long enough. And some
t-girls have denigrated me for being tall. But when my life is compared
to theirs, I can say, I did it. I went from a gay man to a pre-op to a
post-op who functions in mainstream society as a woman. And I can say cheerily, I am not doing it in stealth.

I
have a family, a home. My husband makes terrific money and he is
generous to me. I have free reign with the money and credit cards. And
some of the trans girls have accused me of lying about my wonderful
life.

Those bitches are just jealous. But for those types, I’m not tolerating their pathetic shit. I refuse to be around them. What
I’ve done. They could do it too. If a trans woman can stomach some of
the annoying, petty crap that goes on in the t-community--the shade.
Jealous trans women hating on you, running around badmouthing you to
people because she’s envious.

Trans women fighting over
“tranny chasers” who don’t give a damn about them. If you can endure
that, and God knows, I couldn’t, you can take the bit of iciness that
you may encounter in mainstream society. Believe me, it’s much easier to
deal with.

Ashley Love, a founder of MAGNET, explains, “ Instead of showing the
characters as women who were treating their transsexual and/or intersex
birth challenge by undergoing legitimate medical transition to have
their mind in alignment with their body, they were blatantly
mis-gendered and depicted as “men in dresses” and transvestites. It’s
unbelievable that such a tele-hate-vision crime would air on NBC, a
public network.”

I didn't find it funny either. As someone who comes from a people who were
denigrated with blackface minstrel shows since the 1830's, and once
again by a gay male doing a blackface character, the Estro Maxx skit not only fell flat with me, the inaccuracies in the fake ad also bothered me as well.

Don't waste your breath telling me the bullshyt 'lighten up', 'it's a joke' or 'you're too sensitive about this'. When you're a marginalized community that doesn't have much civil rights coverage and you're fighting tooth and nail for laws to protect your civil rights, much less keep them from being rolled back, media images matter.

And for those people who claim that no one pays attention to what's said on Saturday Night Live, ask Sarah Palin or the McCain campaign.

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About The TransGriot

Monica Roberts, AKA the TransGriot (Gree-oh) is a native Houstonian, GLAAD award nominated blogger, writer, and award winning trans human rights advocate. She's the founding editor of TransGriot, and her writing has appeared at the Bilerico Project, Ebony.com, The Huffington Post and the Advocate.
She works to foster understanding and acceptance of trans people inside and outside communities of color and was recently honored with the Virginia Prince Transgender Pioneer Award

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The TransGriot blog's mission is to become the griot of our community. I will introduce you to and talk about your African descended trans brothers and trans sisters across the Diaspora, reclaim and document our chocolate flavored trans history, speak truth to power, comment on the things that impact our trans community from an Afrocentric perspective and enlighten you about the general things that go on around me and in the communities that I am a member of.

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